student research

Summer Scholars Introduction: Courtney Yoke and Adam Ferguson

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The Summer Scholar program enrolled thirteen students in 2015. Today we introduce the last two scholars that have yet to be covered on our blog: Courtney Yoke and Adam Ferguson.

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Courtney Yoke

Courtney Yoke is a junior at Roanoke College, majoring in Psychology. She is from Mentor, Ohio where she attended Hawken High School. Courtney has been a member of the cyberpsychology research lab, under the direction of Dr. Denise Friedman, since the second semester of her freshman year. In that time, she has co-authored two posters, one of which she was the first author. Courtney is also a member of Psi Chi and a part of the Roanoke College Honors Program.

Courtney’s project is titled: “Bringing Back the Night: Examining Whether Time Away from Technology Influences Well-Being and Reflection in Emerging Adults”. Her project examined the argument researchers have made about the impossibility of functioning without technology in modern times. Courtney collected and analyzed data on young adults about their reflection on their time away from their technology.

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Adam Ferguson

Adam Ferguson is a senior at Roanoke College, majoring in art. He enjoys painting, drawing, and sculpture, but also enjoys working on art digitally. When he is not busy with his major, Adam plays soccer, works with music, and volunteers. He is also the president of the Men’s Club Soccer Team at Roanoke College and a member of the co-ed acapella group: The Roanotes.

Adam’s project is titled: “A Sense of Emotion”. His project involved artistic exploration of the human body, in which he connected human physiology and human emotion. Adam created drawings, paintings, sculptures, and sketches of the human body. He also conducted textual research, consulted with his project advisor, Dr. Shortridge, and made visits to art galleries for inspiration. Adam’s goal was to take the understanding of the human body to a heightened level through exposure and experience.

Roanoke College Senior Conducts and Presents Research at UC Davis

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Over the summer of 2015, Maya Shende, a senior at Roanoke College, decided to do a Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) at UC Davis in Davis, California. She worked in Justin Siegel’s lab in the Genome and Biomedical Sciences Center along with eight other undergraduates.

Maya participated in a ten week program that involved time in North Carolina, California, and Washington. During her first week, Maya went to Raleigh, North Carolina to learn about the Rosetta codebase, a molecular biology/chemistry codebase. Most of her time in the program, however, was spent at UC Davis working on her research project.

“My project involved protein-protein and protein-small molecule interfaces. I was looking at the contacts made between two docked proteins or a protein docked with a small molecule, to see if there was a way to quantify the number of contacts in order to further understanding of protein-protein and protein-small molecule interactions. All of this work was done computationally and all of the docking simulations were run using the Rosetta code.”

For the last week of the REU, Maya went to Seattle, Washington, where she and eight other undergraduates presented their research. One of Maya’s favorite parts of the summer was the conference in Seattle.

“RosettaCon was one of the coolest conferences I have ever been to. First, I was essentially surrounded by celebrities in the world of computational molecular biology and computational chemistry. I spent a week having intellectual conversations with some of the forerunners of the field and learning so much every day. Second, presenting my work to such esteemed scholars in the field was a great experience. Not only did I get an opportunity to better my presentation skills, but I also got great feedback about different routes I could take with my research.”

Maya’s advice to anyone interested in research is to start early.

“The more research you do as an undergraduate, the more you learn and more competitive you will be after graduating. Research is also a great way to learn things that you can’t learn in a classroom environment. It is a way to explore topics that are interesting to you, and apply what you learn in your classes to coming up with solutions to real problems!”

Recent Roanoke College Graduate presents her research in Cheney, Washington

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In April 2015, Lydia Delamatta, a recent Roanoke College graduate went to the National Conference on Undergraduate Research in Cheney, Washington. Lydia worked with the Public Affairs department on her project titled “Discrimination Stops Here: How Education Affects Gender Political Equality Across Democratic Nations”. Lydia became involved in research after meeting Dr. O’Keef at a professional development panel organized by the Public Affairs Society. The two then worked together on their project.
Lydia enjoyed her time working with Dr. O’Keef:

“Working one on one with a professor is honestly the best way to learn, and when working with Dr. O’Keef, you feel like your research matters. Working one on one, I was able to ask all the questions I needed to as well as develop a professional relationship. Dr. O’Keef, along with all of the Public Affairs professors, truly bend over backwards to help us cultivate our skills and thoughts, and to perfect our projects, and independent study projects help you recognize their dedication.”

When we asked what Lydia’s favorite part of the conference was she had a hard time choosing one but ultimately decided that presentation day was the best:

“Overall, in the span of only a few hours, I had made two professional connections, both because of the work I had put in with Dr. O’Keef in developing this quantitative research project. I was able to represent myself and Roanoke College at this conference, and I would like to think that on that day I honored both.”

To anyone who hasn’t done research or is thinking about it, Lydia says:

“Definitely get involved in the Undergraduate Research program at Roanoke College and Summer Scholars, and get involved with a professor you would like to work with and ask for their mentorship with a research project. If you have a great work ethic and you ask one of your professors about an undergraduate research project they will help you, either by mentoring you, or finding you the best professor for your topic. Seriously they really will.”

Roanoke College Students Travel to Snowbird, Utah for Biology Conference

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Pictured above from left to right: Alex Kramer, Ben Walker, Seth Fortmann, and Rebecca Hudon

Roanoke College students Alex Kramer, Ben Walker, Seth Fortmann, and Rebecca Hudon traveled to Snowbird, Utah in mid-July of 2015. They attended the 74th Annual Meeting for the Society for Developmental Biology to present their research. Seth recently graduated from Roanoke College and works at Johns Hopkins University. Three current students, Ben, Alex, and Rebecca, were interviewed about their research experience.

Ben’s research topic was investigating the effects of atrazine on embryonic zebrafish development. He decided to do this research after finishing a similar study on estrogen. Ben won the award for Best Undergraduate Presentation, Honorable Mention and was one of only four undergraduate students to win an award at the conference.

Rebecca’s topic was assessing estrogenic pollution in the Roanoke River using embryonic zebrafish as a bioindicator. She decided on this topic because of her previous experience on the topic during her work in the lab and looks forward to her future endeavors.

Alex’s research topic is about aquatic toxicity of a dental sealant compound. He chose that topic because of its relevance to public health and the large impact it can cause on the industry.

When asked about how it is to work one on one with a professor, Alex said:

“I really enjoy working with Dr. Lassiter because [of] how accessible he is. Whenever I get to a new stage in my research, Dr. Lassiter has always been very helpful in explaining what I need to do next. After we decide what to do next, I am actually running the experiments and am collecting data on my own and at my own pace. Once the data has been finished being collected, we will meet together to analyze and interpret the results together”

Rebecca stated that her favorite part about presenting her research was the feedback she got from other researchers.

“While talking about my research with others I was often given advice about procedures and asked questions that I had not previously considered. These interactions have helped to shape the future of my project.”

Ben’s advice to any students who haven’t gotten involved in research is to find a field that interests you and approach any faculty who performs research that may interest you.

“Being able to use knowledge you learn from the classroom to make an impact, no matter how big, on your specific field is an extremely rewarding process.”

Summer Scholars Introduction: Natalie Wilkson, Phillip Barbolla, and Benjamin Walker

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The Summer Scholars program enrolled thirteen students for 2015. Three of them are Natalie Wilkson, Phillip Barbolla, and Benjamin Walker.

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Natalie Wilkson

Natalie Wilkson is a senior at Roanoke College majoring in Math and Computer Science. She is planning on going to graduate school after graduation. She is the current president of Mu Beta Psi, the national honorary musical fraternity, the vice president of RCSCACM, the computer science club, a member of Pi Mu Epsilon, and is in the mathematics honorary society. Natalie has a strong interest in music and computer science and loves when the two combine together.

Natalie’s project is titled: “Optical Music Recognition using Hidden Markov Models”. In her project, Natalie will be using optical music recognition (OMR), a program similar to Optical character recognition (OCR) that converts images of text to actual text documents. OMR has often showed poor performance in comparison to OCR, however, there are algorithms that show promise for OMR. One of those algorithms is HMM which Natalie will use to see if HMM improves the performance of OMR.

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Phillip Barbolla

Phillip Barbolla is a senior and mathematics major in the Honors program, attending Roanoke College as a Bittle scholar. He is pursuing a psychology minor and neuroscience concentration. Phillip is also active in several clubs and activities such as Habitat for Humanity, Roanoke College Student Chapter of the Mathematical Association of America, and the national mathematics honors society. He has also worked as a calculus teaching assistant and served on the Honors executive board. In his spare time Phillip enjoys hiking, purchasing nerdy apparel from the internet, and getting a little too competitive while watching Jeopardy.

Phillip’s project is titled: “Optimizing Course Offerings with Genetic Algorithms and Particle Swarm Optimization”. Phillip will apply genetic algorithms and particle swarm optimization to the problem of scheduling. By doing so, Phillip hopes to develop a system that can minimize potential conflicts in MCSP department course offerings, adaptable to other departments and institutions.

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Benjamin Walker

Ben Walker is a senior at Roanoke College majoring in Biology and Chemistry. Native to the Roanoke area, Ben decided to go to Roanoke College as a pre-med student. Ben got involved in research under Dr. Lassiter his freshmen year and continues to do so now. Ben enjoys his research with Dr. Lassiter and believes that doing research will help him with linking academic work and real world applications. On his free time, Ben enjoys playing sports with his friends or tutoring students.

Ben’s project is titled: “Effects of Atrazine on the Development of Craniofacial Cartilage, Skull Sutures, and the Heart in Zebrafish (Danio rerio)”. In his project, Ben will be handling atrazine, an herbicide that has been stated to effect developing organisms. In order to test this hypothesis, Ben will be treating zebrafish embryos with different concentrations of atrazine and examining developmental defects it causes in the zebrafish.

Roanoke College student presents research at Society for Applied Anthropology

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In March of 2015, Hayley Field, now a graduate from Roanoke College, presented her research at the Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA) conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Hayley was involved with the sociology department and travelled with fellow Roanoke College student Mariana Araujo, graduate student Stephanie Floyd, and Dr. Chad Morris.

Hayley decided to pursue research in her topic after her research methods class with Dr. Anderson.

“I chose the topic of refugees out of my interest in other cultures and thinking about how difficult and incomprehensible their lives are to individuals like myself, who have never had to worry about being persecuted for reasons such as race or religion. I wanted to create a study that looked more into their lives in order to learn more about the challenges they face. I wanted to ameliorate the many hardships they go through in any way possible by finding ways to help them feel better adapted and welcomed in their new host country. I then decided to apply for Summer Scholars so that I could actually carry out my proposal and the project expanded from there, after discussing it and making it more feasible with Dr. Mehrotra.”

Hayley enjoyed working with a professor one on one:

“It is a great way to form relationships with professors and allows you to learn on a much deeper and more personal level. These experiences really pushed me to work harder and gave me very valuable lessons that I would have never had without having such dedicated professors that were willing to guide me through the process of conducting my own research study.”

Hayley’s favorite part about the conference was learning about all the different research that anthropologists are doing around the world:

“I especially enjoyed going to the sessions that had to do with refugee and immigrant populations because it was a really neat feeling to be able to apply my research to other researchers’ work and find similarities between mine and their findings.”

For anyone interested in research, Hayley says:

“It isn’t that common that so many students are able to do their own research and work one on one with their professors, so it is definitely worth it to find something that you would enjoy doing, such as internships, independent studies, or summer scholars. It helps you get connected with professors and individuals in the community, and it also gives you a great advantage when applying to graduate school or jobs by having had such great experience in your undergraduate years.”

Summer Scholars Introduction: Theodore Bauer and Abigail Mendez

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The Summer Scholars program enrolled thirteen students in 2015. Two of those students are Theodore Bauer and Abigail Mendez.

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Teddy Bauer

Teddy Bauer is a rising senior at Roanoke College majoring in Environmental Science and Biology while also studying eco-centric religions. Teddy grew up in rural Virginia where he became interested in the local wildlife and environment. After learning so much about the animals around him, Teddy developed an interest in environmental science and it has led him to his majors. Teddy hopes to use his knowledge to aid wildlife conservation efforts.

Teddy’s project is titled “Post-Burn Ant Diversity and Abundance in a Sandplain Forest of Northern Vermont: Ants as Bio-indicators of Forest Restoration”. In his research, Teddy will examine the use of ants as bio-indicators in Vermont’s endangered Sandplain Forest. The Sandplain Forest has several trees such as the Pitch Pine tree that can’t grow properly without forest fires due to competition from other trees like the Red Maple. Teddy’s research will determine the time course of changes in the ant community, post-burn, in relation to changes in other communities of organisms.

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Abigail Mendez

Abigail Mendez is a rising senior from Grand Lake, Colorado who is a Spanish Major with a Latin American and Caribbean Studies Concentration and a Minor in Sociology at Roanoke College. She is involved in many different organizations on campus including Xi Theta Chi, Sigma Delta Pi, and Chi Omega in which she holds a leadership position. She also holds three jobs on campus, two in the Modern Language Department and one as a Spanish tutor. After graduation, Abigail seeks to attend graduate school for her Master’s in Latin American Studies.

Abigail’s project is titled: “Honduras: The Realities of Immigration and the Perilous Road to the USA”. Abigail will analyze the historical, political, social, and economic data of Honduras from the 1960’s to today to understand how the conditions in the country have influenced Honduran immigration.

Summer Scholars Introduction: Alexandra Grant and Dannielle Allen

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For the Summer Scholars program, a number of students are chosen to pursue a research topic of their choice that could be used to benefit people. In 2015, thirteen students were accepted into the program. Two of those thirteen are Alexandra Grant and Dannielle Allen.

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Alexandra Grant

Alex is a rising senior at Roanoke College majoring in psychology with a concentration in neuroscience. Alex has been interested in the aging of the brain since high school and has worked in the dementia center of a nursing home. She has been conducting research at Roanoke College since her sophomore year with Dr. Whitson. Alex has been volunteering at the Salem Veterans Affairs Center for Neurocognitive services during her junior year and plans to do so in her senior year and into graduate school.

Alex’s project is titled: “Aging and Brain Area Measurements with MRI”. Alex’s research focuses on the fact that as people age they become susceptible to certain diseases such as neurological diseases. In pervious neurological research, it has been shown that certain areas of the brain can be affected as people age. Alex’s project will analyze three parts of the brain, the ventricle, corpus callosum, and cerebellum, and analyze the differences between people who have some form of dementia and those who don’t.

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Dannielle Allen

Dannielle is a rising senior at Roanoke College majoring in Biochemistry. Dannielle has been doing research at Roanoke College since her freshmen year with Dr. Sarisky. Outside of school work, Dannielle is a part of the Honors Program, a member of HEAT (Health Education Awareness Team), and plays Field Hockey for Roanoke College.

Dannielle’s project is titled: “Cloning and Expression of PurF from Sulfolobus solfataricus”. Dannielle’s research focuses on purines, nitrogenous bases that are used as building blocks for DNA, and the Archaeal species Sulfolobus solfataricus. This species is thought to contain genes that code for PurF, a protein that is vital in purine biosynthesis. Dannielle’s project will be creating a plasmid that will be able to produce the PurF protein and analyzing it.

Roanoke College students present at Virginia Tech conference

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Virginia Tech Peace Conference

Pictured above from left to right: Jessica Compton, Wesley Knowles, Daniel Osborne, and Kelsey Reedy.

Daniel Osborne, now a junior at Roanoke College, presented his research on individualism in America and its effects on human well-being. Daniel traveled to Virginia Tech with his fellow presenters Jessica Compton, Wesley Knowles, and Kelsey Reedy and Doctors Mike Heller and Srikanth Mallavarapu in early February, 2015.

When asked about his experience on conducting and presenting research, Daniel says:

“Working with Dr. Mike Heller and Dr. Srikanth Mallavarapu was a wonderful experience. Both offered gentle, thoughtful guidance throughout the process of our presentation’s formation. Presenting my research at a conference made me feel important. To be able to share your work and ideas with an eager audience feels wonderful. It reminded me that my academic work has relevance beyond course grades and GPA records. The conference reminded me that my thoughts and writings can prompt reflection in my peers. Presenting research is certainly a challenge that stands outside the comfort zones of many students. However, Roanoke College’s many research opportunities are a special chance for undergraduate students to discover.”

Summer Scholars Introduction: Ben Cowgill and Andrew Feeney

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Thirteen students were enrolled in the 2015 Summer Scholars program. Introducing two more of the summer scholars, we welcome Ben Cowgill and Andrew Feeney.

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Ben Cowgill

Ben Cowgill is a rising junior at Roanoke College who is majoring in religious studies. Born and raised in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Ben has been highly involved in religion since high school and it has influenced his choices in research and academics. When he isn’t busy with school, Ben is involved with many different clubs and organizations including Pi Lambda Phi Fraternity, Alternate Break Program, Lutheran campus ministries, and the Honors Program. He is also currently the Vice President of the Student Government Association at Roanoke College.

Ben’s project is titled: “Effects Of Participation In Denominational Governance On Religiosity Among Youth and Young Adults”. Ben’s research aims to understand the long-term effects of church-wide denominational programs on participants. In order to do so, Ben will investigate a group of youth and young adults going to the Episcopal Church who were involved in a program called the Official Youth Presence, a program which represents youth at General Convention.

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Andrew Feeney

Andrew Feeney is a rising senior at Roanoke College majoring in Economics with a minor in Mathematics. Andrew is from Old Greenwich, Connecticut and is a member of the Roanoke Men’s Lacrosse Team. In his free time, Andrew participates in many different clubs including Best Buddies, Relay for Life, and Habitat for Humanity. Andrew is also the founder of the campus chapter for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Andrew’s project is titled: “Roanoke Economic Index”. Andrew details the project as a creation between two economic indices, a coincident index that reveals information on the underlying economic conditions for the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area, and a leading index which forecasts changes in the coincident index. With the combination of the two, Andrew hopes to allow local businesses to have better information before making major decisions.